Earning the Chair: How Graham Fairley Became PEXA's CISO

Most people arrive at the CISO chair from the outside. Graham Fairley did the opposite — he earned it from within.In this episode, host David Savva-Willett sits down with Graham Fairley, Chief Information Security Officer at PEXA (Property Exchange Australia), for a candid and personal conversation. Davey held the CISO role at PEXA before Graham, and the two have been friends and colleagues for the better part of a decade — which makes this a rare, honest look at what it actually takes to grow into one of the most demanding seats in Australian cyber.Graham progressed through identity and access management, security consulting and a security services lead role before stepping into the CISO chair in late 2024. Eighteen months in, he reflects on the learning curves nobody warns you about: winning executive and board buy-in, sitting with the weight of accountability, learning to let go of the technical work he loves, and becoming the kind of storyteller a modern security leader has to be.They also get into what PEXA actually protects — a platform underpinning Australia's ~$10 trillion property market and designated critical infrastructure — including the 6.5 million intrusion attempts PEXA blocked in a single financial year, four times the previous year's volume. Graham unpacks PEXA's layered defence approach, and the harder problem beyond the platform: the consumer. As he puts it, criminals don't need to compromise systems — they just need to compromise trust. In this episode:Why the "internal" route to CISO is undervalued — and the edge it gives youThe first 18 months in the chair, and the skills that sharpened fastestWhy every CISO has to be a storyteller (and where AI genuinely helps)Learning to step back so the team — not the CISO — becomes the heroDefending critical infrastructure at scale: layered controls, threat intel and speed-to-detectSocial licence, shared accountability and PEXA's Safeguarding Your Property Settlement white paperAI-supercharged business email compromise, and the "stop and think" habits that stop itReal advice for anyone who wants the CISO job one dayCyber Voices is the official podcast of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA). If you're enjoying the show, a five-star rating (about five seconds of your time) genuinely helps more people find it.Interested in sponsoring Cyber Voices or reaching the AISA community at CyberCon? Contact the AISA national events and sponsorship team via [email protected].#CyberSecurity #CISO #AISA #CyberVoices #PEXA #CriticalInfrastructure #InfoSec #Leadership